We went there to look at a motorhome!
It was also the very first motorhome we had looked at. But, I knew what we were looking for and had scanned a lot of advertisements over the three weeks prior to that.
I knew that motorhomes were far more expensive to buy in Canada, and that's one of the reasons we didn't mind driving five hours into the United States. I had talked to the owner a couple of times and was pretty sure that if everything he had told me was true then this was going to be worth the five hour drive.
The very first picture we ever took of Sherman!
Hmm. We think we could live in this space! After all, it's only the two of us and a small dog!
This has got to be the stupidest place to locate a television in a motorhome. One of the best things we ever did was to get rid of it!
Ruth's new kitchen.
Sherman, and the little blue car. That's Ruth talking to the owner in the background.
He only had 25,000 miles (40,000 kms) on him then. Now, he's well broken in at 94,000 miles (150,000 kms). Oh, the adventures we've had together!
We made a deal at $12,500 USD, left a deposit, and drove back home. At the border, we started the paperwork process to import him into Canada.
We can't remember if it was the next weekend, or the following one after that when we drove back down to pick him up. The previous owner had left us his New York licence plates and insurance so that we could drive him into Canada. Then, we had to complete the Ontario safety checks and inspections and have daytime running lights installed in order to get our Ontario licence plates and insurance. then, I mailed his New York plates back to him.
One of the best decisions we've ever made was the purchase of this motorhome. We've had such good times together.
Will he be around for another nine years? Who knows, but he sure has paid for himself. He owes us nothing, so whatever enjoyment we get from him in the future is all bonus!
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Hm. I'm a little surprised that the Border Dudes allowed you to bring in a motorhome with US plates, and you being Canadian and all.
ReplyDeleteWell, unless you left out a few details about the process that is.
At one point many moons ago, I inquired about borrowing/renting a motorhome from someone we knew in the States, and I was told in no uncertain terms that we would be considered to be importing the vehicle. So I'm guessing you did a few "things" at the border?
Oh yes...there was all kinds of paperwork crap to do at the border. You actually have to "export" the vehicle from the U.S. before you can "import" it to Canada!
Deletehttp://www.riv.ca/USCustoms.aspx
I bought Tara down in Texas, we flew down and picked her up. I researched (as you did) layouts and the best fit for me. This one was definitely the best layout for me. Still happy all these years later, we must have made some good decisions!
ReplyDeleteYep, if you do your research well enough you can almost always find something much cheaper in the States and that is adding on the cost of getting there, all the extra fees required for exporting/importing it and the exchange rate. Glad you we also able to find the RV of your dreams down there.
DeleteCompletely agree about the stupid location for the TV. But with cheap flat screens, especially smaller ones, you have some options because they aren't as bulky as the old glass tubes.
ReplyDeleteWe never replaced it as we don't watch TV so just never saw the use in even buying a cheap flat screen one. However, we have occasionally thought of installing a larger flat screen monitor so that we could watch movies on it from our laptop, rather than the small 15' monitor on the laptop.
DeleteSherman has served you well and you did get a good deal. Hope you get many more miles out of hime yet.
ReplyDeleteHe has done really well for us and we are pretty sure we will get lots more miles on him yet! :-)
DeleteHow did Sherman get his name?
ReplyDeleteI thought of the name because when I first saw him I thought he was huge, like a tank and would use gas like one too! Kevin says it's because he drives like a tank. And when you think of a tank the first thing that came to our minds was a Sherman tank!
DeleteClearly, you choose wisely:)
ReplyDeleteYep, I would say we did! :-)
DeleteYou dun good! Sherman had served you well. We are ten years now on owning the Safari, before that it was a Coachman motorhome, then a Sierra pull trailer, then a Winnebago motorhome, then an Apache popup for me and Holiday travel trailer in Steve's past, and his first was a Coleman popup. And of course tents.....
ReplyDeleteYou have definitely had a large variety of units, glad you have now found the one that suits you the best. We went from tents straight to Sherman. :-)
DeleteI brought (Imported ) my MH into Canada with Utah Plates and I wasn't even ask any question. I was 5 minutes at the US side and 20 Minutes at the CDN customs.
ReplyDeleteWow Tommy, that seems very odd that they would have done that. Did they understand that you had bought it and lived in Canada? Maybe you had a border guard that didn't know the rules. We actually had to leave our motorhome at the actual border crossing for 3 days I believe so that they could do the proper checks on the motorhome and process the paperwork then we were able to come back and take the motorhome home. As Dinah said, to your advantage.
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